The social media giant Meta is introducing a new feature for its microblogging platform Threads: the so-called spoiler text. This function was presented by none other than Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself. The feature initially grays out certain texts or images in a post, making them visible only when users manually click on them. Spoiler text is primarily known in online communities, for instance on platforms like Discord or Reddit. There, it is used to lead discussions about current movies, series, or books without accidentally revealing plot details to users who are not yet up to date.

This platform extension aims to contribute to user-friendliness and promote discourse on pop culture topics without the worry of unwanted spoilers. Meta emphasizes in a press release that popular series like “The Last of Us” and “The White Lotus” were regularly discussed on Threads during their seasons. This is a clear indication of the growing community of entertainment and pop culture enthusiasts on the platform.

However, the developers also expect benefits not only for pop culture discussions: texts or images that do not violate guidelines but might still be unpleasant for some users can also be marked as spoiler text. An amusing example is the friend who regularly shares updates about his injuries while playing frisbee. Since the feature is currently still in the testing phase, it is not available to all users. Those who can already use it have the option to mark texts or images as spoilers before publishing by highlighting them and selecting the “mark as spoiler” option from a menu.